Greedy Beggars

In the morning the landlord of the mudhouse came to meet us. We had invited him, and the next door neighbour, to discuss the condition of one wall of the compound. It has been damaged by the winter and spring rains, and is now in risk of collapsing. The next earthquake or rain might be the last straw. The landlord was very reluctant to do anything, as was to be expected. He hasn't done any repairs on the mudhouse, but keeps blaming us for its poor condition. He started by claming that it wasn't his responsibility to repair the wall. I then read aloud from the rental contract what his responsibilities as the landlord were. He became nervous and said that he doesn't have that kind of money, that his father has cancer and that all his money goes to the treatment of his father, and that we as the rich military power would have to take care of the repairs. Then he and the neighbour started arguing how to share the cost of the repair.

After listening to the two for a few minutes I told them my proposal, which I had prepared in advance and gotten aproval for with the Swedish national support element. The PO would pay 50% of the expences, no matter what the cost would be. I said to the landlord and the neighbour that this was a good opportunity for them to get a new wall cheaply, and that we would need it fixed quickly for security reasons. The landlord then had the nerve to ask if we could pay 60% of the costs. Outrageous! That was it for me. I told him in my strictest tone of voice that he was responsible for 100% of the costs, that we don't usually haggle where I come from, that my offer was good and that I suggests that he takes it. After that he and the neighbour quickly agreed that the landlord should pay 30% of the expences and the neighbour 20%.

The next visit was by a delegation from a school of some kind, who wanted stationaries and books. As usual, we forwarded their requests to the development advisors. After lunch we went to see the new provincial governor. Just as we were leaving, the new chief of security for UN came to pay us a visit. He hadn't announced his visit in advance, so I had to tell him that we were busy and that he would have to come back another time. At the governor's office we congratulated the governor on his nomination and wished him succes is his duties. I gave him a book about Finland as a welcoming present. His first question to us was: "How much development projects are you able to do in Samangan?" Incredible. I tried to tell him what our mission here is, and that we don't have any budget of our own for development projects. He seemed to be a little disappointed.